


Turbulence

by AinZaphir



Series: Dissonance [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angry Sex, Doctor/Patient, F/M, Fuckbuddies, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Stress Relief
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-10-14 03:33:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20593991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AinZaphir/pseuds/AinZaphir
Summary: Time has passed, and no one really thought about what they did. Until now.





	1. The Deconstruction

**Author's Note:**

> My dear @Dreamsindigital, thank you so so much for beta-reading and being so supportive and patient for all my whims. For all who hasn't had the pleasure/torture; it is a lot and I am very grateful for your beta reading! <3

Time moves fast when there is a lot going on, Harry thought. Moving, switching offices, bringing some of his team with him, assimilating into his new situation made time pass like nothing else. His office was near identical to the ones he’d inhabited aboard the Hyperion- but his quarters, all though fancy enough, turned out to be a complete mirror image of his last, causing him quite a few confusions, such as a lot of late night wonderings towards the kitchen for a glass of water, ending up in the loo instead. Scans of his own toes confirmed at least one fracture. Fucking coffee table.  
He was, however, certain he’d get the hang of it eventually. Like with a lot of things in this world, time was a healing factor. Especially considering he was starting to get pretty tired of bumping his foot on the doorstep every time he discovered his error and missed the entryway. 

Work was also similar. A few growing pains, like any other major project, but nothing he wasn’t prepared for. He still got to see patients clinically, and his department was ran rather smoothly if he dared to say so himself. 

It was safe to say that Harry was happy-- or at least content with his life. His life was finally containing the one thing he’d always appreciate above everything else- order. 

Yet he found himself unable to concentrate on his task at hand as a knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. When he looked up, he saw the last person he’d expect to see.

“You busy?” 

“Sara. What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting you here. What can I do for you?” Harry said, being able to think quickly on his feet was one of his specialities. After all, despite him feeling he may not have come down as suave as he thought it might. Why did he feel like he should come off as suave with her anyway?

He didn’t know her that well to begin with. Served with briefly, yes. Slept with, certainly. But he didn’t really know her, and didn’t really feel guilty for not having made any effort to see her since she’d left his bed in the early hours of the morning. She had, by doing so spared them both the awkwardness of exploring the morning after. He hadn’t really explored the possibility that they should even acknowledge that it had happened. It had certainly happened that way before- with multiple women. Fair enough, he had picked those women up in a pub-setting or at a party. After all, everytime he went to a party, he’d be prepared for planned on ‘something might happen’, not ‘just happened’.  
After he moved back to the Nexus hadn’t really made him cross paths with her yet;. He knew he would at some point, but he hadn’t really given it much thought until she stood there in his doorway, for the first time since their night together. He made up his mind quickly:

Let’s pretend we never did anything. 

Yet his mind and his body was not as connected as he might like, and he felt a blood moving to his groin. In the meantime, Sara started to talk.

“I was wondering if you would mind taking a blood sample for me? Lexi’s been bothering me about it to go with the physical she did last week, but I’ve been procrastinating. SAM informed me Tann is threatening to ground us until I do so, because he got his panties in a twist again. I wanna get out first thing tomorrow, but can’t until I get that bloody sample. I’d ask Lexi, but she’s been so overworked lately... I ordered her to the Vortex for some R&R, and the last time I used one of the junior doctors for a physical the poor lad was shaking so much he couldn’t get a clean sample. So…” She shifted her weight from foot to foot, unsure what more should she say about the topic..

The part about having seen each other naked, thus not being able to be nervous around one another, according to Sara at least, hung around in the room, unsaid- like a mid-sized elephant sitting in the corner. Harry wasn’t not-nervous around Sara because they’d slept together, but because he didn’t exactly know if that was something they were going to acknowledge at some point, or even at all. . 

Harry nodded towards his examination bench. Ethically any kind of doctor-patient relationship between them at this point was wrong, but then again-- so was their last rendezvous by that logic. Considering all that, Harry surmised there couldn’t be much harm in taking a blood sample. And it was either taking a sample or explaining why he couldn’t do it himself, which would lead to talking about what they had done. He chose the former, not really knowing what to feel about the latter. To be honest, Harry hadn’t really thought much about it. He did feel a little guilty-- as if Sara and him, two consenting adults, had done something wrong. They hadn’t, of course-- but somehow he felt a little shame nevertheless. The least he could do was not to show it. No matter how much his dick was getting awake by her proximity. 

“Hop on, roll up your sleeve.” Harry grinned as he pressed his omni tool to set his office status to “do not disturb” and lock it.

He moved to take out the appropriate equipment as Sara nonchalantly hopped on his examination bench as Harry got the syringe and a piece of cotton along with several phials. Placing her arm in a tourniquet and tightening it, he started feeling for a vein.

“So, how have you been?” Harry asked as he tried to decide which of her veins to go for. 

“Good, good. You?” Sara winced as Harry inserted his needle in her arm and loosened the tourniquet-- he could do this in his sleep. 

“Can’t complain. Keeping busy with work,” Harry said, trying not to move the needle as he switched phials. 

“Yeah... same. You like it on the Nexus I take it?”

“I do. How about you?” 

Sara sighed.“I don’t know yet. They still haven’t issued me quarters. I either live on the Tempest or crash on Peebee’s couch. All my stuff is in Scott’s place, but the first weekend I spent there got me a little larger glimpse of Scott and Gil than I bargained for…”

There was something in Sara’s voice … he could not really put a finger on it. Was Sara trying to apologise for not calling? She did reference something they had discussed the last time they had seen each other, thus acknowledging their night of hiding and everything that came with it. Harry decided to clear his throat and check.

“That can’t be, you were supposed to be transferred well over a month ago.”

“Keeping track of me Harry?” His inquiry had the desired effect- she smirked and lifted an eyebrow in a playful manner, meeting his eyes briefly, before continuing: “Relax, I’m only teasing. Officially I was only reassigned two weeks ago. Addison made sure to slow things down as much as she could. Probably revenge for appointing Morda.” Smirking a little, her eyes met his again. There was something there, a glimpse of the eye perhaps? These waters were a complete unknown for him as of late. Flirting wasn’t, one night stands were definitely not, but a combination of flirting after the one night stand had occurred? Not new, but still unfamiliar waters. Especially whilst drawing her blood. He decided to return to this after he had removed the needle from her arm, in the very least, since his body would not let him forget it.

“Making sure you don’t have quarters seems a bit extreme, though, even for her.” Harry switched to a third glass.

“Well, it’s Addison. For her, having to deal with Morda is much worse than anything she could do to me. Speaking of which-- did you ever manage to get Breka off your back?” 

At this second mention of the theme of their last rendezvous, Harry was certain she had made no attempt to forget the nature of the last time they had seen each other. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that particular information, other than just store it for later as well and keep her talking. He didn’t really know how to feel about the mere possibility of repeating their last activities, and he shouldn’t think about such things whilst taking her blood anyway.

“Yup. I did a little digging and then took him out for a drink. As it turns out he brought his borzoi with him to Andromeda.”

“Borzoi?” Sara looked up as he switched the phial of blood with a fresh one, “what’s that, an illness?” she gave him a quizzical look.

“Almost done, Sara. Yeah, no, a Borzoi is a russian wolfhound. Very loyal to their owners. Apparently, he missed her, but was repeatedly denied requests to wake her because the cloning department responsible for canine population hadn’t been awaken yet-- waking them is my department. I mapped her genetics myself before waking her.”

“Really?”

“Never underestimate the bond between people and their pets. I’ve been promised the first Andromeda-born puppy, by the way. There! All done.” He announced as he retracted his needle and placed a band-aid over her arm. At her raising an eyebrow at this rather medieval way of completing a simple blood sample, Harry muttered a court “we’re short on medigel” to which she nodded before continuing their conversation with the much more cheerful topic than how little medicine was left in the Andromeda Initiative.

“Well, I’m glad you sorted it out. I’ll admit I was a bit worried.” Sara said.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Harry might not know Sara that well, but he knew her well enough to know she often spoke in riddles that revealed another meaning than what she was saying out loud. More hints about their last time? Harry decided to counter with an unspecified answer, letting the ball go straight back to her part of the court.

“Me too. Be careful when you stand up, not uncommon to get a little dizzy-” He was interrupted by Sara hopping off his examination bench, displaying no visual signs of dizziness. Did SAM counteract effects like that, or was she just that unaffected by a simple blood sample? 

“So…” Sara said as if she wasn’t sure what to say or what to do next.

“So..” Harry countered, not knowing exactly where to go or what to do with himself-- resorting in him just examining her face for clues as to what to do next.

“How’s the shoulder?” Harry asked, again piercing the uncomfortable silence. 

Sara looked flabbergasted at this innocent question. “Good, it’s almost gone. A little scar, but nothing new..” 

“I’m glad,” Harry said, again finding himself in an uncomfortable silence. What did she want from him?

Sara looked at him, standing a bit closer than Harry normally would have liked. “I-umm I need to-” She began,

“Yeah, me too.” Harry said in all earnest. They were way too close for his liking, considering he didn’t really know why they were standing this close.

“I’ll see you around then?” Sara looked into his eyes, lowering her voice, her hand reaching out to touch his forearm. A gentle gesture that could be interpreted both as a friendly offering or something more. Harry countered by removing some hair from her face, looking in her eyes to see if they carried an answer to his unasked question . 

“Yeah-” Harry trailed off, looking at her lips, his hand still by her cheek. She appeared to be studying his shoulders, a hungry look in her eyes. None of them moving apart, but slowly closer.

“I-umm. I meant to-” Sara hoarsely said, inching closer to him. It seemed she carried an unanswered question of her own. It dawned on Harry that she too might have issues interpreting exactly what he meant when he spoke. 

“Me too,” Harry said, but before he could finish his thoughts on how she wasn’t the only one to blame for their lack of communications, her lips were on his, her arms trailing up his back. He found his arms was already around her back, grasping her tight. What was it with this feral need that was arising in him as she kissed him, begging him to undress her and have his way with her right there and then? Not that Harry cared, his office was locked- so when her hands were going for his belt, he didn’t object as he backed her into the wall.  
She made the most delicious sounds as his tongue massaged hers, and his arm went towards her belt. Feeling her hand sneaking down into his trousers, wrapping themselves around his hardening cock, he was making fast work of the fastenings of her pants. Pulling them down, he got down with them, kissing her lower stomach, gently biting her underwear. A muffled “Fuck yes” and a hand in his hair was all the confirmation he needed as he pulled the almost see through piece of fabric down for him, revealing her most private of areas, which he dived into without further delay. 

It didn’t take long until the muffled sounds and the shaking of her thighs coupled with a tightening hand clenching his hair his hair indicated she had found her release. Losing no time, she dragged him up to kiss him as she pulled his boxers down just enough to release what she was looking for. Lifting one of her legs out of the trousers still tangled around her ankles to come around his hip, he entered her to even more muffled sounds. Their coupling was fast before she yet again came around him, bringing his own release along with it. A tension he didn’t know he was carrying seemed to leave him as he did. Catching their breath for a second, he looked into her eyes and kissed her again, a little more tender, a little less needing this time. Her arm came up from behind his shoulder and cupping his cheek. She smiled at him before kissing him again- this intimate kiss- not the hungry passionate ones she’d do in the heat of the moment. A caring gesture.

Smiling at him, she spoke a little hoarsely: “Thanks, Harry. I needed that.” 

“Yeah. Me too.” Leaning his forehead towards hers for just another second, inhaling her scent for just a second before she’d leave. She obliged for a second, closed her eyes before smiling to look into his eyes again. 

“Well..” Sara started as she pulled up her trousers, Harry packing his junk back into his boxers. 

“Well,” Harry mimicked, not really knowing what to say.

Sara closed in on him, giving him another small, yet intimate peck on the lips. 

“Until next time, then..” Sara said, leaving Harry to his thoughts.


	2. Delicate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Harry get at each others throats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for yet another excellent beta reading, @dreamsindigital!

Harry’s week had not been a good one so far; in fact-- it had been rather shitty.

First of all, his plans for the newly revised genophage treatment project had been rejected by Addison, _ again. _ It made him want to rip out his own hair first, then Addison’s throat. Having to continuously repeat the mantra of “do no harm, do no harm” was not very becoming of a doctor, Harry thought. It had been easier if Addison had not insisted on withholding funds on ridiculous reasoning. _ Shortage of staff, my hairy ass _, especially as she was the real reason behind the shortage in the first place. 

Secondly, he had spent the past five days in an ever email chain between himself and Tann, Addison, Kandros and Sara, that grew more and more annoying with every reply. Annoying email chain wasn’t quite the term he was looking for-- for it was more a chain of ridiculous demands made by Sara, rebuffed by him, silently watched by Tann and Kandros with really unhelpful input from Addison every 6th email or so. The exchanges had bottled down to Tann calling a meeting between them in his office, luckily sans Addison- at both Harry’s _ and _ Sara’s requests. _ Why invite a child to the candy shop if it could be avoided _ , Harry had thought in excluding Addison. Sara had just requested a “sitdown with Dr Donothing and Director Spineless, please exclude head of colonisation”, and had he not been so angry with Sara, he would have asked if she was about to get Clemenza to hide a gun in the bathroom _ for their sitdown _, but nevertheless-- he had to go to a meeting with her. It had become clear this would not be solved until they had all met face to face, so Harry did consider a meeting timesaving, especially if Addison was not to be included. 

After having ran a few minutes late from another meeting with the tech lab, he was not happy when he entered the tram near the docking bay to see Sara frowning at the console. Ugh. No way he could avoid her, he’d _ have _ to go over and talk to her. _ This is why you walk places, Harry, so you don’t get trapped in trams with the person you’ve been arguing with for the past few days and sleep with occasionally _. Nevertheless, they were both trapped in this enclosed space and on their way to continue the argument, he couldn’t avoid at least saying hello. He had to at least try to be civil. He walked calmly over to her. 

“Dr. Carlyle,” Sara nodded curtly.

_ Oh, playing that game are we? Fine. Players at the ready, three, two, ... _

“Pathfinder,” Harry said in the calmest voice he could muster at the moment, actively preventing himself from rolling his eyes at her.

Standing very still, she looked at him as she drank her coffee. The mug said ‘#1 pathfinder,’ and Harry knew she had brought that on purpose just to annoy him, as a way of stating her authority. However, her somewhat dominating image was quickly and effectively ruined by a drop of coffee running down her chin.

“You have a little ... on your-” Harry smirked and gestured towards her face. She quickly wiped her mouth to remove the small drop.

“Thanks. Wouldn’t want to…”

“Yeah-well-umm, not in there anyway…” Harry awkwardly started, not really knowing what to say. It seemed Sara was suffering from a similar issue, but she did look like she was about to say something when they were interrupted by the news.

“Sara Ryder’s Pathfinder team, supported by APEX and Angaran special forces were again baffled to find what they had thought to be a roekaar nest on Havarl completely abandoned. Perhaps the Pathfinder needs a better map? This is Agent S.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. Regardless of why he thought she was wrong in their current dispute, she did not deserve to be ridiculed in such a public manner. Apparently his thoughts were readable in his expression, because Sara brushed it off with a gesture. At Harry’s raised eyebrow she elaborated, rather ambivalently: “He’s not entirely wrong and he’s said worse.”

Harry was secretly happy he wasn’t under the same amount of public pressure as she was. The realization eased some of the tension, and her lowered his guard down a bit. Sara noticed the change and immediately relaxed too, from a cocky yet tense expression to one with lowered shoulders. They really should talk about something or other, but before Harry could ask how she had been, the tram came to a stop as they reached operations.

“After you,” Harry gestured and she walked with him towards Tann’s office in silence. Harry hoped this meeting would at least be a calm and civilized affair.

***

Sadly, Harry’s feeble hopes of a professional meeting had been completely dashed. 

“I _ need _ more soldiers, Dr. Carlyle! I don’t make these requests on a whim because I am secretly in desperate need of a better hobby!” She slammed her hand down upon the table in such a way that made Tann wince a little before drawing breath and continuing once again: “I am telling you what I need in order for my department to function!” Sara was standing partially bent over the table, leaning on her hands, eyes blazing. Harry hated this circular argument. As if _ he _ had decided to deny her request just to spite her, and not because he didn’t believe it to be safe. It was as if she was thinking this was personal for him - some sort of revenge. It infuriated him to have his professional opinion undermined in such a manner.

“Since your auditory system is so blatantly failing you today, I will have to repeat myself, _again,” _Harry exasperated: “we cannot awaken any more at this time! We simply do not have the resources to care for the amount that you are asking for!” His blood pressure skyrocketed and he had to resist the urge to massage his temples.

“Are you insinuating that I intend to put every single soldier under my command in the hospital Dr. Carlyle?” Sara angrily hissed, spitting his name as it was venom.

It was then he saw it-- for a fraction of a second; the twitch in her eye. Had he not seen it at first, he might have ignored the rest of the signs, but it was as if everything he knew about Sara just fell into place. Her slight hint of a hoarse voice revealed she’d been at this a little too long and not only with him via emails. The dark circles under her eyes indicated a prolonged state of sleep deprivation. Her pale skin of a spacer, who does not get enough sunlight, perhaps too long living off nutrient paste instead of proper meals. A twitch in her hand, probably from firing her sniper rifle a bit too much lately. Harry doubted Tann was able to see it, but now that he had, he couldn’t unsee it all either. He forced himself to calm his voice before continuing, trying to paint himself as someone not actively against her, like so many meetings in operations probably proved for her.

“Off course not!” He exasperated, trying to make his frustration known, rather than his anger. “I am however pointing out the rather obvious fact that accidents do happen. We need to be able to wake them up and guarantee them the best care possible- this is something we simply cannot do at this time.” 

Before Sara had had a chance to respond, Tann interrupted. “Well then,” Tann paused, looking at them both: ‘’Sara, your request is denied- we will stick with the current wake up schedule.’’ Even if Tann had had the sense not to invite Addison-- her presence did nothing but annoy Sara anyway-- it was remarkable how he was able to open his mouth and have her words come out.

Regardless, no matter his recent epiphany regarding Sara’s very subtle signs of a less than ideal physical and mental state, Harry was certain that if looks could kill, he’d at least suffer a quick death from the way she was staring at him. 

***

After a very little productive afternoon at the hospital, Harry had finally managed to return to his apartment; As soon the door locked behind him, he went straight for his bottle of whiskey. He’d pour over the folders again to see if there was anything he could do - any sort of justification to wake up just a small team of military operatives and perhaps a doctor. _ Or at least a field medic, dammit. _ If there’d been any leeway he’d missed when he’d checked those same files a million times over (if not more, if his dreams counted). He’d at least try to do something. Had to. Tossing his medical tunic in a hamper and changing into a t-shirt, he sat down with a glass of whiskey and opened the documents again.

About an hour into his miserable work, an angry knock on his door snapped him out of it. For the first time in a very long time, Harry did not reach for his sidearm - deep down he knew she would come to continue their fight. 

He opened his door to see the human Pathfinder, looking even more pale and angry than at the meeting. Her eyes were still shooting daggers at him -- _ had she been this pissed at me all afternoon? _

“So, Breka can have his dog, but I can’t have more soldiers? What the hell, Harry?” Sara snapped as a greeting.

_ A fair point, _ Harry conceded in his mind, but that was not something he’d start off by telling her. 

“Sara,” Harry calmly said, “Would you care for a drink?” As he gestured for her to enter, she kicked off her shoes and dropped her rucksack on the floor. Harry went for his cupboard to fetch her a glass.

“Wow. This place is the exact opposite of what you had before. That must be annoying.” Sara murmured as she followed him inside. Her remark was dry with a hint of bitterness- but at least she seemed content on pointing out she cared about other things than their current dispute.

“Well, you haven’t truly lived until you’ve taken a wrong turn from the bathroom and wound up in the hallway, hitting your foot,” Harry replied equally dryly, pouring her a generous two fingers From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a slight snicker. 

After a sip of her drink she muttered a thanks.

“You’re welcome.” 

It felt like an eternity as they stood still, several feet apart, glaring at each other. The tension was unbearable enough for Harry to think about different ways to break the ice between them without her snapping at whatever he’d say when Sara started:

“You are being unreasonable, Harry,” 

The nerve. Him- of all people unreasonable? No. _ She _ was the one who didn’t seem to care what her waking up dozens of military personnel would do to his medical wing. Fuck that. He felt his blood boil at the insinuation that he was doing this just for the sake of opposing her.

“No, Sara- I am not being unreasonable for not wanting to wake people up just to send them to their deaths!” Harry poured himself another whiskey as he mentally reinforced himself for yet another screaming match. 

“You don’t know that’s what’s going to happen!” Sure enough, her voice was pitching a bit higher, always an ominous sign of anger where Sara was concerned. 

“And you can’t guarantee that it won’t!” Harry felt himself raising his voice a bit before trying to control himself. He didn’t want to shout, that would mean she had succeeded in dragging the argument back to her turf where she’d beat him with experience.

“Nothing is guaranteed in this world, Harry!” 

“I know that! Which is why we need more doctors. And nurses. And support staff, such as cleaning services so we don’t accidentally nurture a new type of bacteria after having patched someone up! Not to mention tons of researchers to figure out how to replace and manufacture medicine we are about to run out of! I don’t know about you, but I would very much _ not _ like to find out what happens to half this station, including your team and most of your department if we run out of painkillers and medi-gel!” He huffed in annoyance. Not even ten minutes in and they were at it again.

“Stop being so stubborn!” She put her glass down, approaching him slowly. Her eyes were measuring him up. Was she about to attack him? No. She was a civilized human being, who rarely resorted to violence…. That he knew of. Didn’t Kesh mention a bar fight on Kadara? But that was Kadara, a completely different environment to the civilized Nexus. He decided to face her head on, just in case. She couldn’t physically bully him on this, this wasn’t about her, or him, but sleepers deserving a safer world than the one they themselves had woken up to over a year ago.

“I am being realistic!” He downed his own glass and put it down, approaching her slowly, looking at her. 

Tension was rising. Memories of their last encounters came to his mind, in a feral, excruciating way. They were slowly circling each other like predators. Closer, lessening the space between them until finally, they stood only inches apart. Harry felt his cock stirring in his pants as they stared at each other, a mix of loathing and lusting radiating off Sara.

Her lips were on his in less than a second.

“You’re impossible,” she said in between kisses, before biting his neck in a hard, yet not painful way.

“You infuriate me.” Harry grabbed hold of her hair to get her off his neck. She responded by kissing him, then biting his lower lip, hard.

“Fight me.” Her nails digging into his back through his t-shirt.

“I fucking will.” He said through gritted teeth as she looked into his eyes. 

She nearly ripped off his shirt in her frenzy to which he responded to lifting her and backing her against the kitchen counter, making fast work of her top in in between kisses and bites. She bit his shoulder as he once again grabbed her hair to return the favor. She’d gotten around to undoing the fastenings of Harry’s trousers, a favour Harry returned with haste. It was as if it was a race whomever could get the other one naked and begging would win.

She scratched his back so hard he was sure she’d leave a mark, before she pushed him away from her, jumped down from the kitchen counter and pushed him further towards his sofa. Falling down backwards to his couch, he fully appreciated the work of his deft hands-- she was down to her underwear, a feral glare upon her eyes.. She glared at him for a second before she smiled a most vicious smile and almost jumped on top of him. 

He put his arms around her and rolled them both around on his sofa, internally praising himself he’d gone overboard with the size of the thing as she went in for another bite, her fingers gripping around his shaft, surprisingly gentle for the mood she was in. He pulled her underwear down, realizing that she was very much turned on from him biting the thin skin surrounding her clavicle. In fact, every time he bit some small surface of her skin, she moaned and scratched his skin even harder. He grinned as he started to teasingly remove the rest of her clothes.

***

Somehow, in the aftermath of their rough-housing that had landed them both on his floor after all, they had wound up in Harry’s bathtub. Harry didn’t remember which of them had suggested it, but laying back in his tub, soaking in the warm water did wonders for muscles aching as if they had just engaged in a heavy workout. 

Sara sighed.

“You okay?” Harry sat up behind her.

“Not really.” 

Harry kissed her neck. Her arms clenched his.

“What’s going on with you?” he quietly murmured into her ear. 

She sighed.“I am beginning to realize you might be right. It’s just.. I really need that peacekeeping force on Havarl, and they need to be large in numbers…”

Harry draped his arms tighter around her, planting a small peck on her shoulder.

“I can’t sanction any wake-up that would place any more people on Havarl, Sara,” Harry stood his ground. Sex was not a way to change his mind. Even sex this good. “Not with how things are right now. But I get the predicament you’re in. I cannot station any of my people there without more soldiers, and I can’t wake any more soldiers up before we have doctors, nurses and medication. Not with the way things are now.”

“I know. I just.. ugh. If the roekaar gains more foothold there…” She raised her hand, but let it splashed back in the hot water.

“Sara-- they are terrorists. You said it yourself, Evfra wants to flush them out. With the Kett-threat gone-” he tried his best to calm her down. 

“The Kett are not gone,”she interrupted him. 

“Scuse me?” He nearly choked._ How could she be so calm about this? _

“The Archon is gone, true, but his job is not done. More will come. For me, for you, for everyone. For Breka and his god damned dog. Everyone. But it’s not your fault. I get your point of view. I just wished you could fix it.” She took his hand and kissed it, holding it up to her cheek for a while after.

“So do I. Wanna come to bed?”

“I do…” she paused for a second before continuing, “but I have to get back before my crew notices I’m gone.” 

“Surely they are all asleep by now?” It was nearly 2 am after all.

“Nope. They are still at the Vortex.”

“Where do they think you are?” Harry was a little curious, SAM could report her location to her crew anytime.

“In my quarters on the Tempest, sulking,” Sara shrugged and sat bit straighter. So she had instructed SAM to lie, Harry realized.

“Well. They’ve got one of those two options right.” Harry smirked and caressed her sides with his fingertips gently. _ Were her last ribs always this pronounced? At least her scar is coming along nicely. _

“Shut up.” 

She turned around and kissed him passionately. The intimacy and passion made them forgot that there was a whole universe of problems waiting for them to fix outside his small apartment. 

“Walk me back to the Tempest?” she quietly asked when they parted for breath.

“Of course.” 

The docking bay was completely deserted, something Harry much appreciated. As they were walking towards the Tempest, she took Harry’s arm, draped it around her own shoulders and leaned into his chest. She snuck a hand around his waist in a way that suggested she didn’t want to let go just yet. Harry at least interpreted it as such. And if he was being completely honest with himself, he didn’t really want to let her go so sooner than necessary either. He didn’t know that much about their relationship yet-- was that the correct term for what this was? He was still unsure exactly what they were doing-- but he _ did _know that he did like her enough to perhaps pursue it further.

Unfortunately for him, words failed him by the time they managed to reach the docking corridor, which, like the docking bay was very empty. Harry could not help but feel relieved at the fact that they were alone-- he wasn’t sure he really wanted to be seen in such an intimate setting with the pathfinder. Sara turned around to hug him with her other arm, looking into his eyes for the first time since leaving his apartment:

“I’d invite you in, but we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

Harry smiled and responded with a kiss on her forehead, which prompted a smile from her. He wasn’t a child, he knew what this was really about-- she didn’t want his identity logged in the Tempest’s entry log. He was, if he was completely honest with himself, perfectly okay with that. Whether or not they were dating, or just fucking or whatever, he’d rather keep this for himself until he knew exactly what it was. 

“No worries. Let me know when you are back, k?” When did he turn into such a needy guy, anyway?

Whether or not his neediness was apparent to Sara, she simply smiled at his poor attempt at asking her out, and responded with an intimate peck on his lips; and her usual parting words: “I’ll call you.”

Three times of seeing each other over the course of the past few months. And every one of those times had ended the same. Her leaving with a kiss, and him diving further into his confusion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clemenza is a reference to the godfather.


	3. Dirty little secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tann.” Sara interrupted again, looking crestfallen. “Let me get this straight-- you want us to tell director Tann about our sex life... Have you lost your fucking mind?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to @dreamsindigital for betaing, aka kicking this into shape and keeping up with my antics! :D

Harry was reading what must have been the 100th report on Ruth Bekker that year, and by the looks of it, his head of cryo, Dr. Erin Woster, had in all likeliness given it to him as a joke. 

_ Patient asymptomatic until stasis revival _

“Wrong,” Harry muttered. “Ruth Bekker wasn’t properly screened  _ prior _ to stasis, so we don’t know if she was showing symptoms prior to stasis or not, but she was most likely showing symptoms of  _ something _ .Otherwise Charlie wouldn’t have felt the need to sneak her into the AI in the first place.”

_ The virulent count found to be off the correct biomarkers _

“Because she wasn’t properly screened,” Harry replied to nobody as if the paper would suddenly start defending itself, or somehow improve at his verbal musings.

_ ...upon bioanalysis taken immediately after stasis revival _

Harry growled at the paper. “Who wrote this nonsensical crap, anyway?” His eyes glanced to the beginning of the document.

_ A longitudinal study by Dr Lowland. _

The minute Harry saw the author’s name, everything fell into place. He almost felt he should have realised it the moment Erin had dropped it onto his desk “for a laugh” right before he was heading home. Of course, it was written by  _ him _ , who else would produce such crap? Harry knew the second he had laid eyes on the paper exactly why it was such a shitty piece of work. Taking another sip of his glass of whiskey, looking around his dining table as if Dr Lowland had suddenly manifested himself, ripe for a verbal beating. He hadn’t.

Of course. Harry had long suspected the offending author, the sly fuck, to have claimed to be much more accomplished at performing research than he actually was. Probably to make sure he was either wave one or wave two. Harry sighed, again. It wasn’t as if Dr Lowland was a bad virologist either, so he probably would have been woken up sooner than most other people. Harry was however in half a mind to replace Dr Lowland as head of the TH-314 vaccine project, something he’d gotten heavy resistance from doing.

“ _ Longitudinal study _ oh for fuck’s sake, you can’t do a longitudinal study on someone who died from TH-314. Daft pyjak.” This was not a research paper, it was a word salad, and all though talking to it couldn’t  _ really _ help, Harry felt it strangely cathartic. He didn’t bother to continue reading the paper, he had better things to spend his precious free time on than reading something that would ultimately lead to an increase in Harry’s deep-seated frustration. He decided on reading a follow up on a project meant to synthesise a new type of anaesthesia instead, and started looking for the paper detailing the pilot testing.

A knock on Harry’s door yanked him out of him trying to figure out a nice way to get away with murdering his colleague or at least assign him a decent lab assistant of some sort.  _ Or I can just bin the whole thing, it is not progressing anyway.  _ He had a suspicion of whom it was at this hour-- Lexi had made plans for lunch with him for the following day, and that meant that the Tempest was docked at the Nexus, with a very certain someone onboard as well. 

As he opened his door, he saw Sara leaning against the wall, holding a bottle of wine in her hand. Her eyes sparkled and Harry was not sure if it was because of whatever mischief was on her mind or the non-zero levels of alcohol in her system 

“I,” she stopped, enjoying the dramatic pause, “have got an excellent bottle if I must say so myself, of confiscated Kadaran contraband, aaaaand,” another dramatic pause, “I was looking for someone to share it with. You busy?” She bit her lip.

Harry smiled and moved aside for her to enter. She paused as she saw his work spread across the dining room table. 

“Oh. I hope I didn’t disturb you from doing something important. Do you want me to -- umm...?” she asked tentatively, gesturing to the door

Harry brushed it off with a smirk. “Nah. I’m not really in the mood to work right now. Especially not now when a much better option than reading research papers on TH-314 showed up at my door.”

“Ah, I see how it is,” Sara smiled, inching closer to him. She tiptoed to reach for his lips with her own, smiling to herself as he accepted her greeting and wrapped an arm around her waist. It was intimate, more intimate than the two of them usually greeted for this kind of thing.

_Usually_ being a strong word, It was never planned -- not from his side, anyway. The last time had been as a result of a screaming match, the other times it had _just happened_. It was never this tentative. It was not even a thing, really. On a more positive note, it opened up an opportunity for Harry to get something he dreaded over with, sooner rather than later. 

Due to a report sent by Lexi regarding Sara, Harry had realized he couldn't actually treat her should she ever need treatment for anything more than a bandaid and a lecture. The thought had crossed his mind once before, but he hadn't paid it much attention when it did, and the situation had since escalated from one of the ethical grey areas to a flat out big fat ethical nope. Harry needed to make sure they had everything sorted if Sara ever were to injure herself. And given Sara’s line of work, that could come sooner than later. 

“Hi,” she said as they broke apart, eyes looking into his. 

“Hi,” he smiled back, hoarsely.

“You got any glasses appropriate for 600-year-old wine?” she said in a low, almost teasing voice.

Harry gestured towards his kitchen cupboard. 

“When did you come in?” Harry asked as he followed her towards the counter. To be honest, it had been less than a week since they saw each other last, a little uncharacteristic for her to make contact after only a few days, but Harry decided to roll with it. He wasn't in much of a mood to focus on anything in particular, anyway. 

“Just now,” Sara replied airily.

“Thought you guys weren’t docking until tomorrow around noon?” He opened his mostly empty kitchen cabinets and started to look for something appropriate for such exceptional wine.

At her questioning look, he elaborated: “I have a late lunch scheduled with Lexi tomorrow around noon, and medical re-supply isn’t scheduled until the day after tomorrow.” 

“Yeah…” Sara trailed away, looking for a corkscrew. “Well. Today sucked, Roekaar, fucking assholes. So I figured… you know.” She was trying to avoid giving him a proper response, that much was clear, but nothing else.

Harry didn’t know. He didn’t know what she was thinking or what they were doing. He didn’t know why she was in his apartment, although if their last few encounters were any indication, he had an inkling of what was going to happen after a few glasses of her  _ ‘Kadaran contraband’ _ . He finally found a corkscrew and two glasses and handed them to her. She deftly opened the bottle and poured two generous glasses. 

“Cheers,” Harry said as he accepted one and took a sip. “Even without letting the comet out, it really was an exceptional year.” 

Sara snorted, wine nearly coming through her nose.”Comet? What?” 

Harry smiled. “This Czech sommelier on the Citadel told me it is called ‘letting the comet out’ -- you know, when you let the wine breathe.” At Sara’s questioning look, Harry elaborated: “You open the bottle and let the wine opened for a few moments before tasting. . And Czechs are a small nation in the middle of Europe,” he added as an afterthought. 

“I know who the Czechs are, Harry. Didn’t know I was dealing with a wine-expert here, though.” Sara winked at him before they both took a sip.

“You’re not. I used to go to this guy back on the Citadel every time I needed some. I  _ am _ good at following his instructions in the very least.” 

“Yeah…” Sara trailed off, sniffing her wine, apparently unsure exactly how to treat a proper wine, but feeling the need to show that she wasn’t a caveman in the field. Luckily for her, Harry had a topic he really wanted to get out of the way and now seemed like the perfect time to breach it. 

“Actually, I’m glad you came. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” He walked over to his sofa and gestured for her to join him.

“What about?” Sara stiffened but joined him on the sofa. 

“Nothing serious, except it may become so if we don’t at least discuss what to do. And sooner, rather than later.” Sara froze and raised her eyebrows at him.

“What to do about what?”

“Well. About us. Sort of. Mostly me, but also you. Not us- as in  _ us, _ ” Harry marvelled at how his words came out wrong. 

“Go on?” Sara said, apparently a little calmer at him denying this was a ‘where is this going’ kind of talk.

“Well… I can’t be your doctor anymore. Meaning, I can’t oversee or have access to any medical reports concerning you.” 

“Why not?” Sara asked. 

“In short -- I’m Lexi’s boss. I can remain so, but I shouldn’t go near you with a scalpel anymore. It’s an ethical thing. We’re not supposed to perform surgery on people we have a close… I don’t know what to call” he gestured at the pair of them, “this. But I cannot keep sleeping with you and still have access to your medical records and possibly perform surgery on you.” 

“Meaning?” Sara asked, a little affronted.

“Well, in short, it means we have to disclose... This.” Harry said, carefully avoiding the word  _ relationship _ , even if theirs wasn’t a relationship in the classical meaning of it all. 

“Didn’t you take my blood sample that time…” 

“That was different, I wasn’t going to operate on you. Next time you need proper treatment on the Nexus, another medical doctor than me has to treat you.” 

“Are there even enough doctors awake to be making such requests?” Sara asked. A good point, but still, Harry’s mind was made up. They should have had this conversation a while back when they first started, but it hadn’t occurred to Harry until he got the report on Sara’s burn wound two days prior. No matter what they were, Harry had the sense not to read reports on someone he kept having in his bed at regular intervals. It felt a little iffy.

“Not really, I mean, they can’t expect us to live in celibacy either. But ethically… Had we been in the Milky way I’d have lost my licence if it ever came out that we’ve been, well. Doing it. If only once, could still have ended my career. Here in Andromeda, things are a little different, but we still have to disclose it. Especially since there aren’t that many doctors that have any sort of neurology as a speciality awake, yet.” 

“Alright. So. To whom do you suggest we disclose it, exactly?” Sara said, warily. She took another sip of her wine and poured both herself and Harry some more. Harry knew how she was feeling, this wasn’t exactly a conversation he had been looking forward to having either.

“Well. Lexi, Director Tann, and whoever would take over the treatment of you. I’m thinking Dr Woster from the cryo-department-” Harry got interrupted by Sara who made a sort of bark.

“Tann?” She asked, looking dumbfounded.

“Yes,” Harry replied curtly, before continuing where she had interrupted him. “Anyway, Dr Woster is a very competent--”

“Tann.” Sara interrupted again, looking crestfallen. “Let me get this straight-- you want us to tell director Tann about our sex life... Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“No, _I do not want to tell Tann about our sex life_. I need to _brief_ _our_ _superior_ about the... situation. Or we will have to stop doing it and cross our fingers I don’t accidentally cut something vital the next time I have to perform surgery on you, which is usually of a neurological manner. This is not about labelling whatever this” Harry gestured frantically between them, “is, it is about ensuring you have adequate medical care. Look, think about it this way: I was told you got a burn the other day. The fact that I even have access to that kind of information _as we have been sleeping together_ is not a good thing. It’s the same with Lexi, I’m not allowed to operate on her, either-- family, friends, or any kind of close relationship means surgical intervention is completely off the table.” 

Sara went silent for a while. She nodded to herself as if seeing the logic in Harry’s argument. Harry continued:

“Look, we don’t have to do anything about it right this instant. I happen to like whatever it is we are doing, but we have to think about what to do about it. If you injure yourself and need surgery, I cannot be the one to perform it, and I’d rather whoever has to do it doesn’t get all of that just thrown into their lap. So -- just think about it, okay?” 

Sara nodded before she inched closer to him on the sofa, sneaking an arm around his waist. 

“Look at you, being all serious,” She teased, reaching over to nibble on his throat. 

“Yeah, yeah. Well. This is important.” Harry said, his left hand trailing along her back, his right setting the glass of wine down to trail up her thigh.

“Yeah… I know” Sara said, resting her head on his chest. “Can we just.. Deal with it like not right now? I’ve had enough work this week to last a lifetime. Trust me when I say shore leave couldn’t come fast enough.”

Harry smiled as Sara looked at him. 

“What am I going to do with you, huh?” Harry looked in her eyes, trying to find an answer for all his troubles as if she could give him them.

“I don’t know, doc. I think I’d like to know that myself,” she breathily replied, tracing his jaw with her fingers. 

He kissed her forehead and sunk back towards the back of the sofa, dragging her with him. 

***

After a very long lie-in the next morning Harry emerged from the shower, annoyed, trying to track down his ringing omni tool, which had, if not completely interrupted, than at least put a dampener on the morning. 

Throwing a towel around him, he crawled on top of the bed to place it on silent mode, until he saw what had caused it to make such a racket. His heart stopped. Lexi was done with her meeting early and on her way over. According to the timestamps on her messages, she was not that far away either.

_ Fuck. _

“Are you coming back in to join me, or what?” Sara laughed from the bathroom. Harry stood there, staring, frantically trying to calculate exactly how long he had until Lexi was at his doorstep, so deep in his calculations that he didn’t hear Sara turn off the shower. 

“What’s up? Cat got your tongue?” She said as she emerged, freshly wrapped in a towel and looking annoyed.

“Lexi,” Harry said.

“What?”

“Lexi is on her way over, and I think she might be right around the corner” Harry pulled on a fresh boxers as he spoke.

“What, like right now?”

“Yes!” 

“She’s gonna come in?”

“Look, you don’t know her as I do, every time you interact with her, even on a social level, she is still never gonna reveal the deepest of her personal nature to you-- she won’t do that with patients no matter how close quarters you live in. She’s gonna try and pry information out of me if she hears anyone is in here, and I know for a fact she thinks something’s up. I’ve been dodging lots of questions that might lead to personal stuff for a while.” Harry explained as fast as he could. He did not have time for any more questions as to why this was, nor why he wanted her to hide.

Sara shook her head, looking shocked by his explanation, the colour in her face draining and slowly turning her face as ashen as Harry his own. 

“Fuck, I have got to hide. Grab my stuff?” Sara said, pulled up one of Harry’s boxers and a t-shirt before she almost threw herself under the bed. Harry went into the living room and grabbed Sara’s sweatshirt and trousers from the edge of the sofa and threw it on top of his bed before frantically looking around for any more clues to Sara’s presence in his apartment.

His omni tool started ringing, announcing Lexi was outside.

“Harry, my shoes! By the door!” Sara whispered from under his bed.

Harry took her shoes and placed them in the closet beside his front door.

“Hold on a second!” He said to his omni tool: “I was in the shower! Be out in a sec!”

Harry threw on trousers, socks and a t-shirt. Of all the things Lexi just had to be done early with her meetings and decide to come to his apartment just as Sara was hiding in it. Crouching down by the bed, he told Sara the passcode to his quarters and lock up before exiting and, as calmly as he could, making his way towards his front door.

_ Do not panic. She can smell fear. Like a thresher maw. _

“Have you got company, Harry?” Lexi smiled mischievously at him as he opened the door. The jig was up. They were going to get caught- Harry was sure of it. 

“N-n-no. Nothing. No one.” Harry stuttered, knowing full well that Lexi knew it was a lie. 

“Right. You just left two wine glasses on your coffee table. Completely normal. Come on, let’s go to lunch! I’m starving!” Lexi winked at him. “It will also give your  _ ‘nothing’ _ a chance to sneak out undetected. I did come a little early after all.” 

Harry wanted to sink into the ground and stay there as Lexi winked at him. Grabbing his coat, he left the apartment not looking forward to what was ultimately going to be a long round of interrogation, if his previous experiences would be any indication.

***

“You’re acting strangely these days. Who are you are seeing?” Lexi asked with a glimpse of the eye.

“I- umm. No one. It’s nothing,” Harry stuttered. 

“I can tell that this is a little more than nothing, Harry if it is making you  _ this  _ speechless. You must like this one.” Lexi said nonchalantly. This was not a conversation Harry wanted to have when he and Sara hadn’t even had that talk for themselves yet.

“Lexi. Please?” Harry said, firmly.

Lexi looked as if she was about to speak when Harry again gave her a stern look.

“Very well,” Lexi sighed. “I do hope you have some gossip for me soon, though. It gets so boring on the Tempest.” 

Harry knew that was very much not the case, but he couldn’t bring that up without revealing anything. He didn’t have time to contemplate any of this further, however, because, at that moment, Scott and Sara walked into the coffee shop. Lexi waved them both over, to Harry’s dread. He noticed Sara was probably a much better poker player than he would ever become, by the looks of her not looking bothered at this interaction.  _ Perhaps with a little help from SAM.  _ He knew SAM was capable of suppressing facial expressions, through delicate muscle control. She simply waved and walked over, arm in arm with Scott. This was the worst possible coincidence Harry could imagine. 

“Scott, how lovely to see you. It’s been ages!” Lexi said and got up to hug him. Sara just stood there next to Scott, smiling in an infuriating way. How she was able to act so calm, despite knowing he must have been properly interrogated by Lexi. Her gaze, however, met his and he saw it instantly. She was coming to check up on him, and possibly break up an awkward conversation filled with questions Harry didn’t want to answer -- questions Sara didn’t want answered either. This was no coincidence, after all, this was planned. Sara was here doing recon, to see if he needed assistance. He had to admire her tenacity-- never leave a man behind and all that.

“And how are my two  _ favourite _ doctors doing today?” Scott asked, completely oblivious to Harry’s and Sara’s unspoken conversation. It seemed Scott was but an innocent victim of Sara’s latest scheme.

“Can’t complain,” Harry said as he shook Scott’s hand. “As long as you’re keeping out of trouble, the both of you.” 

Sara laughed. Harry had to concentrate not to send her a dirty look. He made a mental note to tell her how little he cared for this sort of interaction, just because they were hiding what they were doing didn’t mean they had to resort to this amount of pretend. 

“The day he keeps out of trouble is the day he goes back into stasis or a coma!” 

Both Harry and Lexi knocked simultaneously on the table. At Sara’s questioning look, Lexi took it upon herself to explain:

“Superstitions and murphy’s law and all that. Never mess around with surgeons about an injury.“ 

“Yeah, well, wouldn’t want him undoing my handiwork, now would I,” Harry said, shooting Lexi a look of utmost annoyance. 

Sara’s eyes had a weird glimpse in them, as she said nonchalantly: “Well, we better be off. Gonna hit the shooting range. Enjoy your day off, Lexi! Good to see you, Harry. It’s been too long.” 

Harry nodded and got back to discussing everything  _ but _ the Ryder twins with Lexi. Harry hoped it wasn’t showing, but he felt like shit and knew he  _ was  _ in deep shit unless they disclosed it and soon. He felt as if he was cheating on a spouse, or as if he was doing something illegal. He couldn’t stand it for much longer. At least mentioning the most recent shitty research paper from the TH-314 project bought him an afternoon free of further questioning, and rather one of Lexi and himself abusing the academic writing of Dr Lowland. 


End file.
